Dublin's art-house Light House Cinema revived

The Lighthouse Cinema, atone time Dublin's only arthouse which fell foul of the celtic tiger's appetitefor urban redvelopment, is to be re-established as a four-screen, 600-seat sitelate next year.

Founder Neil Connolly,together with Maretta Dillon (Access Cinema), David Collins (Samson Films) andDavid Kavanagh (formerly of the European Script Fund) have secured a mix ofpublic and private support to fund the cinema fit-out in a new development inSmithfield, one of the capital's re-development hubs.

The Department of Arts,Sport & Tourism is backing the project with $1.3m (Euros 1m) from theACCESS capital fund for the arts, and the Arts Council and the Irish Film Boardare togther contributing $991,380 (Euros 750,000) from their joint CulturalCinema scheme.

The Light House at Smithfield has been custom-built by developers Fusano Limitedand is intended to become the cultural hub for the rejuvenated Smithfield area, presenting a diverse and individual programmeof Irish, independent, foreign-language, art-house and classic films. The newcinema is being designed by award-winning architects Derek Tynan Associates.

Speaking on behalf of LightHouse Cinema, Neil Connolly said, "Light House at Smithfield promises to be the most comfortable and stylishcinema in Dublin. We plan to build on the tradition established bythe original Light House and we are looking forward towelcoming back our loyal audience and to the challenge of building newaudiences for world cinema."

Dublin city has one of the highest cinema-going ratesanywhere in Europe with approximately eight visits per year per head ofpopulation. Three other arthouse cinema projects, in Limerick Cork and Galway, have also been offered backing through the Cultural Cinema scheme.

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